Under an arrangement made public late last week, Central Texas Medical Center will automatically transfer people potentially stricken with the Ebola virus to one of St. David’s Healthcare’s Austin hospitals for treatment.

Patients showing indications of having contracted the virus — often flu-like symptoms such as fever, severe headache, muscle pain, diarrhea and vomiting — will be asked during the triage process about their recent travel history, known exposure to the disease and other warning signs. Possible Ebola patients “will be isolated and transported to a tertiary care center” before being admitted to CTMC,” officials said.

“As a 178-bed community hospital, caring for one Ebola patient could drain the resources we need to care for our community in our normal course of business. We have made arrangements to transport these patients to a care center best suited for them while preserving our commitment to the local community,” said Sam Huenergardt, CTMC’s president and chief executive officer.

Good to see that the right hand knows what the left is doing. In other news:

“Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry announced that two new hospital bio-containment centers will be designated as treatment centers for Ebola — the Methodist Health System in Dallas, which will dedicate an entire floor to Ebola treatment and be backed up by Parkland Hospital and University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center staff, and the UT Medical Branch in Galveston. “

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